In shipping and storing goods, a flexible stock material such as a plastic stretch film can be used to protect and secure a load. The advantages of the use of stock materials are numerous. The stock material produces a tight wrap and protects the wrapped load from damage due to weather, abrasions, punctures, and the like.
To utilize the stock material in an optimum manner, the material must be applied to the load at an appropriate tension. If the material is stretched too tight, the material will be difficult to wrap about the load and may break or tear. If the tension in the material is insufficient, the material will not conform to the shape of the load and the material wrap will be undesirably loose.
A number of devices have been developed for controlling the tension applied to the stock material during application of the material to a load. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,722,493; 4,834,312; 4,872,623 and 5,203,517 show examples of such devices. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,312 discloses a device having a head of a size and shape to be inserted into a core. Fixedly projecting from the head is a handle in the form of a spindle. The spindle carries a flexible grip in which the spindle normally freely rotates and which the flexible grip may be selectively squeezed to vary the friction between the grip and the spindle, thus varying the tension in the stock material being applied. Specifically, the grip includes a split cylindrical member telescoped over the spindle. Insertable devices, such as disclosed in these patents, often have multiple pieces most of which are plastic. The complexity of these designs and even the use of plastic increase their cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,323 discloses a web dispensing tool that has an elongate shaft rather than an insertable dispensing handle. The disclosed design includes a gripper with a sleeve fitted inside it that makes the gripper generally rigid so that tightening the grip on the gripper does not affect (slow or stop) the rotation of the shaft. Instead, when the user wants to tension the film by slowing the motion of the handle the user must move his thumb and forefinger to squeeze a recess portion of the gripper into a groove in the shaft for frictional braking. This design purposely avoids locating the tensioning/braking mechanism in the main portion of the gripper.